UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Title Cities within Cities: An Urbanization Approach in the Gulf Countries
Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/154746n3
Author Bamakhrama, Salim Salah
Publication Date 2015
Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles
Cities within Cities: An Urbanization Approach in the Gulf Countries
A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction
of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts
in Architecture
by
Salim Salah Bamakhrama
2015 Copyright page
© Copyright by
Salim Salah Bamakhrama
2015 ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS Abstract Cities within Cities: An Urbanization Approach in the Gulf Countries
by
Salim Salah Bamakhrama
Master of Arts in Architecture
University of California, Los Angeles, 2015
Professor Dana Cuff, Chair
Within Dubai, nineteen out of the original 112 mega-projects carried the word city in their names, a phenomenon that is common in Gulf cities such as Dubai, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. To further explore this phenomenon, this thesis focuses on three aspects that affect the dynamic relationship between the primary city and the cities within cities (sub-cities) in the Gulf region with special emphasis on Dubai. First, the naming problem of the sub-city illustrates why the tension between competing identities produces a set of effects that could either enforce or confuse the overall urban identity. Secondly, this thesis demonstrates how Dubai utilizes two seemingly opposed growth strategies (sprawl and infill) in order to grow as a primary city and to integrate its sub-cities. The last aspect explores how Dubai’s internal governance structure enables the freedom and autonomy of sub-cities. This thesis proposes that the friction between sub-cities and their primary cities, whether conceptual or physical, is what produces and shapes modern Gulf cities.